1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus of the present invention relates to infant pacifiers. More particularly, the present invention relates to infant pacifiers that utilizes the oral method for sensing body temperature of a baby.
2. General Background
Parents are always concerned with the health of their children and especially infants. Infants and young children are very susceptible to infections that could lead to severe problems. Since children at very young ages can not tell the parent when and why they do not feel well, parents and medical personnel relay on temperature monitoring as an early warning indicator.
Children are very uncooperative when it comes to taking their temperature with a thermometer. Various methods have been used to check the child's temperature such as rectal and at the arm pit. If the child is sick, these methods cause additional discomfort and must be performed repeatedly to monitor the child's reaction to medication.
In the past a more comfortable method has been sought to take the child's temperature and to monitor the temperature over an extended period of time. One such method is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,402 describing the use of a glass mercury thermometer mounted in a baby nipple pacifier. This device, though effective in taking a child's temperature orally, has some drawbacks, such as making the pacifier somewhat ridged and even though the inventor indicates that a child can not break the glass thermometer, parents may have some doubts. Also, the temperature must be taken by reading the thermometer while it is still in the child's mouth or be removed for reading and shaken to reset. If the child is asleep this procedure may awaken them.
An alternative means is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,164 wherein a temperature responsive pacifier utilizes a clear glycerine liquid and a glycerine, combined with gelatin and sorbitol to form a capsule encapsulated in the pacifier nipple which produces a color change when a temperature of approximately 100 degrees is detected. Pacifiers of this type although more pliable, still must be removed from the mouth periodically to detect the color change and it only serves as an approximation of temperature. A thermometer must still be used to get an accurate reading.
The latest technology using the electronic clinical thermometer inserted in a pacifier has also been marketed. While this allows simpler, quicker readings, most of the same drawbacks discussed above still occur.
Thus the ideal method of checking a child's temperature would be to utilize the child's natural inclination to nurse by substituting a very pliable nipple pacifier, containing a temperature sensing means that can be remotely monitored on a continuous basis. The device would also need to be capable of giving an alarm when an abnormal temperature is detected or when the temperature continues to rise beyond an adjustable selected range. Such a device should also provide a abnormal indication when the pacifier has returned to ambient temperature indicating the pacifier is no longer in the child's mouth.